Page 44 of Protection of the Pack

‘No,’ he admitted, one dimple flashing. ‘We’re here to investigate you.’ He gave me a wink as if I shouldn’t worry about it then slunk off after the others. I swore darkly and followed them. I needed to check on Archie.

A rush of warmth swept over me as I stepped into the mansion; God bless central heating. Manners stood at the entrance, his face carefully blank. I sighed. I didn’t want to be yelled at for running off – I’d made an impulsive decision, but I didn’t think it was the wrong one. If I’d caught the culprit, I would have solved Mark’s death and Archie’s attack, and secured the safety of the pack. Risk versus reward. It was worth it.

Manners said nothing, but he ducked into my office and came out a moment later with a white dressing gown. I blinked: I’d forgotten I was nude. How quickly nakedness had become normal. I wrapped myself in it. It was soft, oversized and very fluffy, so it probably undermined my snarls a little, but I’d been so cold in that damn park that I was willing to put up with a little embarrassment to be warm again. ‘Archie?’ I asked.

‘He’s doing okay. Amber is with him – thankfully she came really fast. She must have broken a few speeding laws to get here. She said the change saved his life. He wouldn’t have lasted that long if the shift hadn’t kick-started his healing.’

‘But he’s going to be alright?’

‘She thinks so. Physically.’

‘But mentally?’

‘He’s gone full wolf. She’s not sure if his wolf will relinquish the hold on him enough for Archie to re-establish control.’

That seemed nuts to me because my relationship with Esme was nothing like the battleground Manners was describing.

Thankfully,Esme murmured.We will teach him.

I wasn’t sure we could teach what we had, but I guessed it was worth a shot.

‘Did you manage to find out anything?’ Manners asked.

‘The assailant was a female werewolf, but that’s all I got.’

He looked surprised and a little impressed.Ha! Take that. ‘That narrows things down significantly. With the black-tourney angle, we could have been looking at all manner of beastie.’

I shook my head. ‘Both times ingress to the room was through the mansion. We were always looking at an inside job.’

He looked at me appraisingly. ‘You’re good at this.’

‘Could you sound less surprised?’ I asked drily. ‘It’s a logical deduction and I’m a logical soul – it’s one of the reasons I love maths. But my ability to reason extends beyond mathematics.’

‘You were gone for quite a while,’ he fished.

‘There were some vampyrs in the park.’ I filled him in on my conversation with Steve, including the drugging angle.

Manners frowned. ‘I thought Archie was drunk when he staggered out of the feast.’

‘Me too. Don’t beat yourself up, we couldn’t have known.’

‘He’d been spiked – targeted.’

I nodded. ‘And what did he have in common with Mark?’

Manners swore viciously. ‘The black tourneys.’

‘Bingo. Call your eagle and let’s dig into this.’

He flashed me a grin. ‘I dare you to call him an eagle to his face.’

I blanched. ‘Erm, maybe not.’

‘Good call.’

‘Get the brethren security guys in first thing tomorrow,’ I ordered. ‘If we’d had cameras installed, we’d already know who attacked Archie.’

Manners almost stood to attention. ‘You got it.’

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